The Week Unpeeled
Just when the MF Global losses started losing headline dominance, a little $2 billion whale of a loss hit JP Morgan and financial headlines last week, also hitting the bank’s stock and Jamie Dimon’s reputation. It now appears the derivative trades were “ordered” (WSJ weekend headline) to help save the bank from Euro-market problems. However, some kudos to Dimon seem to be in order from a recovery issue, who admitted quickly on a conf call the problem (lots of recent examples of what not to do – Walmart, MF Global, etc.). Still, big problems exist and Washington/Wall Street fight will only intensify. The incident did not help the Dow, which suffered its worst week this week and lost 1.7 percent to end Friday at 12,820.
JP Morgan was among a few “mighty fall” stories of the week, all hitting the front pages, like Sarkozy in France, the Dewey & LeBoeuf collapse in New York and the Murdoch (you’re not a fit person to lead) unraveling in London (we learned this week that Rupert’s LOL meant “lots of love” when he corresponded with his former executive Rebekah Brooks).
Elsewhere:
- Facebook execs took their hoodies on the road for its IPO this week, the biggest in history;
- Obama came out backing same-sex marriage (great New Yorker cover this week, by the way, with rainbow color columns at the White House);
- Shareholder uprisings over executive pay are forcing companies to rethink pay rises and bonuses as Aviva, Britain’s largest insurance company, drugs giant AstraZeneca and Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily Mirror and The People, have all recently lost their executives as part of the revolution
- The Queen outlined the government's plans for the year ahead;
- Britain’s rate-setting committee voted to keep interest rates at their record lows of half a percentage point; and
- Vidal Sasson died (who used to say, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” Certainly a great PR line and one worth remembering in client service.
I could not help but feel a sense of sympathy for Walmart’s communications team (IR, corporate comms, PR, internal comms) when reading this past Sunday’s front-cover New York Times 
The holiday shopping season typically starts on Black Friday. However, this year many retailers kicked off the season earlier than previous years. For the first time, Walmart joined Kmart, Toy R Us, and other retailers in opening their doors for holiday shoppers at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving day instead of 5 or 6 a.m. on Friday, while Target and Kohl’s opened theirs at midnight. This strategy reflects the current competitive environment for brick-and-mortar retailers. For years these retailers saw their shares being chipped away each holiday season by internet retailers. By opening earlier, retailers are expanding the shopping hours as well as attracting 
